The Irrelevancy of Being Right

Sermon by Rev. Steven McClelland on the Irrelevancy of Being Right.  Based on John’s Gospel, Chapter 2, verses 1 – 11.

Check out Simona Frenkel & the Choir rendition of Agnus Dei by Michael Smith.

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus’ ministry begins in a most unusual way – it begins with a party.  But it’s not just any old party it’s a communities wedding celebration. And I say it like that because the bride and groom’s parents were expected to entertain the entire community over several days and nights.  Party on Garth.

But there was a problem, which threatened to disrupt the celebration, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, was the first one to notice it:  The party was about to run out of wine.

Now I’m not sure how she knew this, but if she was anything like my mother she was probably scurrying around trying to make sure everyone was having a good time and seeing what she could do to help the hosts.

Mind you Mary wasn’t the hostess, but that didn’t stop her from worrying about the happiness of others.  Some mothers are just born to be helpers and worriers.

So however, she knew that the wine had run out she also knew that this was more than just a trivial oversight by the catering company.  It could lead to social embarrassment and social ostracism.

Too many of us, when there is a diminishment of what is essential for the good life, still keep acting as if everything is all right, but not Mary.  Mary had the courage to speak the truth, to say that something essential for the good of the community was missing.  “The wine has run out.”

And this truth telling by Mary poses a challenge to us.  It poses the same challenge that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. posed to us when he spoke the truth over 50 years ago and like each generation before us we too must decide if we have the courage to say – “The wine is running out in our society.

Do we dare stand up and say that something is missing in this grand American reception, this wedding of the high ideals of liberty and justice for all? Are we only to be Americans or more importantly Christians when the mood suits us?  Or do we have the courage to say that there is something lacking in our practice of these high ideals?

Maybe I’m too cynical but as I look at the state of our body politic today, one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me:  The wine is running out.

When political office goes to those with the deepest wallets.  Then to me the wine is running out.

When I find it impossible to watch the news, because it is slanted and designed to make me upset, then the wine has run out.

When I see increasing polarization toward other human beings because of their race, culture, gender or sexual orientation then I say the wine is running out.

But there is still hope, because whenever the truth is spoken, the whole truth, not just the part of the truth that serves my interests, but that which does not as well, then we find hope, even in situations where the wine appears to be running out.

So, Mary goes over to talk to her son and says, “The wine has run out.”

This is a confession of faith, because Mary has reached her limits and realizes that her resources are not adequate in this context of need.  So, she turns to Jesus – who, she knows has been sent into the world to bring healing and salvation.

Mary does what I believe we all must do, bring our needs to the one who is the source of abundant life.

But then a strange thing happens in our story.  Jesus, in that moment of need expresses not only reluctance, but also sarcasm toward his mother’s request to be a saving presence.  “Woman, (he says) my hour has not come.  What has that got to do with me?”

Was Jesus implying that this is just a wedding reception, a mundane social embarrassment?  “I’m not ready to make my grand entrance onto the world’s stage here Mom.  And why the snarky attitude Jesus?

But in the end Jesus refuses to buy into false dichotomies that separate the spiritual from the social, economic and political.  Jesus discovers what so many others have discovered about being right. His mother helped him see that what was occurring in Cana, this awkward social faux pas was as good a place as any to begin his ministry.

So, Mary tells the waiters: “Do what he tells you to do.”  And when the wine steward tasted it, he was astonished. “Wow – most people serve the inferior wine after people have become drunk!”  But here Jesus had saved the best wine for last.

What a miracle.  Jesus has turned water into wine.  God takes what is necessary for our basic survival, nourishment and healing and makes it into something filled with joy.

But here’s the question:  What precisely was the miracle?  Was it a biochemical transformation of water molecules into fruit and alcohol or was it something else?

And if we could ask Jesus what the miracle was I imagine he would turn and ask us: What miracle do you need, a biochemical transformation or do you need a transformation of the way you see reality?

Maybe the miracle was a little bit of both.  Maybe by changing the water into wine he also changed the perceptions of reality for all who drank of this new wine.

I believe that the miracle lies within us, which is to say that through Jesus we can become aware of a power that is capable of transforming the way we see one another and ourselves.

When we drink the new wine, all of a sudden instead of seeing a black person or a white person, we recognize a brother or a sister, instead of seeing a gay person or a straight person, we see a member of our own family.  Instead of paying women and men differently because of gender we treat all equally in all things!  This is the miracle of the gospel:  It changes the way we see one another.

According to John’s Gospel, Jesus begins his ministry not by saving people from their sins – but from social embarrassment and judgment.  That may sound like a weak way to begin building the kingdom of God, but when we realize that what appears as mere social embarrassment is in fact our deepest sin:  the divisions that tear us apart because of fear and judgment.

Then both in Cana and in our society, this is the great sin from which we need salvation. And any religion or gospel interpretation that does not deal with the fragmentation in the body politic, and particularly in the body of Christ.

If what you or I need to feel good or right depends on believing that someone else has to be wrong then you’re not drinking new wine you’re drinking Kool-Aid. Just because it’s sweet doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

I conclude with a quote from the restaurateur Danny Meyer’s book:  Setting the Table- the Art of Hospitality – “If there’s one thing that frustrates me, more than anything, about the notion of being right, it’s that being right, too often get in the way of being generous.  Being right is too often used as a way to protect ourselves from doing the thing that will actually most serve us, which is accommodating the needs of others.  Forget being right.  It’s completely irrelevant.”  What’s relevant are the needs of others.  Amen